Hosted UI

The simplest way to create authenticated browser sessions

Collect credentials via Kernel’s hosted page, then use the authenticated session in your automations. This is the recommended approach for most applications.

Use the Hosted UI when:

• You need users to provide their credentials
• You want the simplest integration with minimal code
• You want Kernel to handle 2FA and multi-step login flows

Getting started

1. Create an Auth Agent

An Auth Agent represents a login session for a specific website and profile.

TypeScript

const agent = await kernel.agents.auth.create({
  domain: 'linkedin.com',
  profile_name: 'linkedin-profile',
});

agent = await kernel.agents.auth.create(
    domain="linkedin.com",
    profile_name="linkedin-profile",
)

2. Start Authentication

Create an invocation to get the hosted login URL.

TypeScript

const invocation = await kernel.agents.auth.invocations.create({
  auth_agent_id: agent.id,
});

invocation = await kernel.agents.auth.invocations.create(
    auth_agent_id=agent.id,
)

3. Collect Credentials

Send the user to the hosted login page:

TypeScript

window.location.href = invocation.hosted_url;

# Return the URL to your frontend
print(f"Redirect to: {invocation.hosted_url}")

The user will:

1. See the login page for the target website
2. Enter their credentials
3. Complete 2FA if needed

4. Poll for Completion

On your backend, poll until authentication completes:

TypeScript

let state = await kernel.agents.auth.invocations.retrieve(invocation.invocation_id);

while (state.status === 'IN_PROGRESS') {
  await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, 2000));
  state = await kernel.agents.auth.invocations.retrieve(invocation.invocation_id);
}

if (state.status === 'SUCCESS') {
  console.log('Authentication successful!');
}

state = await kernel.agents.auth.invocations.retrieve(invocation.invocation_id)

while state.status == "IN_PROGRESS":
    await asyncio.sleep(2)
    state = await kernel.agents.auth.invocations.retrieve(invocation.invocation_id)

if state.status == "SUCCESS":
    print("Authentication successful!")

Poll every 2 seconds. The session expires after 5 minutes if not completed.

5. Use the Profile

Create browsers with the profile and navigate to the site—the session is already authenticated:

TypeScript

const browser = await kernel.browsers.create({
  profile: { name: 'linkedin-profile' },
  stealth: true,
});

// Navigate to the site—you're already logged in
await page.goto('https://linkedin.com');

browser = await kernel.browsers.create(
    profile={"name": "linkedin-profile"},
    stealth=True,
)

# Navigate to the site—you're already logged in
await page.goto("https://linkedin.com")

Use stealth: true when creating browsers for authenticated sessions.

Complete Example

TypeScript

import Kernel from '@onkernel/sdk';

const kernel = new Kernel();

// Create auth agent
const agent = await kernel.agents.auth.create({
  domain: 'doordash.com',
  profile_name: 'doordash-user-123',
});

// Start authentication
const invocation = await kernel.agents.auth.invocations.create({
  auth_agent_id: agent.id,
});

// Send user to hosted page
console.log('Login URL:', invocation.hosted_url);

// Poll for completion
let state = await kernel.agents.auth.invocations.retrieve(invocation.invocation_id);
while (state.status === 'IN_PROGRESS') {
  await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, 2000));
  state = await kernel.agents.auth.invocations.retrieve(invocation.invocation_id);
}

if (state.status === 'SUCCESS') {
  const browser = await kernel.browsers.create({
    profile: { name: 'doordash-user-123' },
    stealth: true,
  });
  
  // Navigate to the site—you're already logged in
  await page.goto('https://doordash.com');
}

from kernel import Kernel
import asyncio

kernel = Kernel()

# Create auth agent
agent = await kernel.agents.auth.create(
    domain="doordash.com",
    profile_name="doordash-user-123",
)

# Start authentication
invocation = await kernel.agents.auth.invocations.create(
    auth_agent_id=agent.id,
)

# Send user to hosted page
print(f"Login URL: {invocation.hosted_url}")

# Poll for completion
state = await kernel.agents.auth.invocations.retrieve(invocation.invocation_id)
while state.status == "IN_PROGRESS":
    await asyncio.sleep(2)
    state = await kernel.agents.auth.invocations.retrieve(invocation.invocation_id)

if state.status == "SUCCESS":
    browser = await kernel.browsers.create(
        profile={"name": "doordash-user-123"},
        stealth=True,
    )
    
    # Navigate to the site—you're already logged in
    await page.goto("https://doordash.com")

Adding Features

The basic flow above gets you started. Add these features as needed:

Save Credentials for Auto-Reauth

Capture the user’s credentials during login so future sessions can re-authenticate automatically when the session expires:

TypeScript

const invocation = await kernel.agents.auth.invocations.create({
  auth_agent_id: agent.id,
  save_credential_as: 'my-saved-creds',
});

invocation = await kernel.agents.auth.invocations.create(
    auth_agent_id=agent.id,
    save_credential_as="my-saved-creds",
)

After successful login, future invocations for this agent will automatically use the saved credentials—no user interaction needed. See Credentials for more on automated authentication.

Custom Login URL

If the site’s login page isn’t at the default location, specify it when creating the agent:

TypeScript

const agent = await kernel.agents.auth.create({
  domain: 'example.com',
  profile_name: 'my-profile',
  login_url: 'https://example.com/auth/signin',
});

agent = await kernel.agents.auth.create(
    domain="example.com",
    profile_name="my-profile",
    login_url="https://example.com/auth/signin",
)

SSO/OAuth Support

For sites with “Sign in with Google/GitHub/Microsoft”, add the OAuth provider’s domains to allowed_domains:

TypeScript

const agent = await kernel.agents.auth.create({
  domain: 'example.com',
  profile_name: 'my-profile',
  allowed_domains: ['accounts.google.com', 'google.com'],
});

agent = await kernel.agents.auth.create(
    domain="example.com",
    profile_name="my-profile",
    allowed_domains=["accounts.google.com", "google.com"],
)

The user can click the SSO button on the hosted page, complete OAuth with the provider, and the authenticated session is saved to the profile.

Post-Login URL

After successful authentication, retrieve the auth agent to get post_login_url—the page where the login landed. Use this to start your automation from the right place:

TypeScript

const authAgent = await kernel.agents.auth.retrieve(agent.id);

if (authAgent.post_login_url) {
  await page.goto(authAgent.post_login_url);
  // Start automation from the dashboard/home page
}

auth_agent = await kernel.agents.auth.retrieve(agent.id)

if auth_agent.post_login_url:
    await page.goto(auth_agent.post_login_url)
    # Start automation from the dashboard/home page